Category: Second Brief

As one of the main features of our exhibition is the fact it is in a dark shed and you will need a torch to see the faces staring you, I thought it would be a good idea to look at photographers who use the dark to their advantage.

Kohei is a Japanese photographer who goes around Japanese parks and photographs people having sex in bushes. The photos caused a ‘storm’ when he first released them 30 years ago. This is particularly because to display his photography, his exhibition for them was in a small dark space in Liverpool where people would require a torch to find the photos. We will take inspiration from this for our exhibition and definitely use torches in our shed to make it more of an engaging, interactive exhibition and slightly creepy too.

The other day when entering the Minerva building on campus, I noticed that they have started using photos of eyes to deter people from using the push button doors that stay open for longer. It is interesting that our university has started using them now too and it will be interesting to know whether they work or not:

They do not necessarily hold photography exhibitions, but an interesting place that holds up pop-up exhibitions of various different artist’s works is Chatsworth House. On one of the last times I visited, they showed many different and unusually designed chairs in the rooms the public are allowed to go in. The public were allowed to sit and touch and photograph the chairs to their hearts content (most historic places do not let you near anything!) which I really liked. Holding an exhibition inside of a stately home is quite unusual, especially when you are allowed to actually touch them and go near them. I also like how they are spread out like a treasure hunt around the house and gardens, making the experience more interesting.

Here is a link to their recent exhibition:

www.chatsworth.org/attractions-and-events/events/never-a-bore

and some photos of the artwork from when I have been:

I have been looking at the photographer and artist Jeremy Deller as he is well known for holding unusual exhibitions. In 1993 he even held a secret exhibition in his parent’s house while they were on holiday called ‘Open Bedroom’. He has held other contemporary exhibitions around the world. In 2004 he even won the Turner Prize!

He has taken part in holding a different exhibition in a warehouse each week for a year:

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/dec/26/fig2-ica-mark-francis-fatos-ustek

Here are some photos of his most interesting exhibitions:

 (How cool is this, it looks like post-it notes!)

After finding out that the majority of my class are already in groups, I decided to team up with Tessa for my exhibition. We have taken some of my ideas of big brother watching you and photos of eyes and faces, but have decided to hold an exhibition in Tessa’s garden shed. The reason for this is that it is off campus which makes it more interesting and it allows us to play about with light. We are going to cover up her windows and play about with artificial lights to see how it affects the viewing experience. We will place a chair in the shed and make sure the door is shut when the exhibition takes place meaning only one person can be in the shed at a time. We will also put up some mirrors to reflect the photos and viewer’s face around the shed. We want to create an eerie exhibition – something that is totally out of the ordinary.

We will use a range of photos that we have taken (possibly in the studio) as well as some from online as we want to see how different aged people staring at our viewer affect them differently. We think older faces staring at them will be more uncomfortable than younger faces.

Things we need:

• A chair in the shed
• Mirrors
• Printed out photos of faces
• Lights?